2014 Dalbello Panterra Mens Ski Boots Overview

Hi. Welcome to Ski Talk. I'm Steve, your host. I'm the ski buyer and Ski-E-O here at skis.com. This is Ray Skelton, our local Dalbello rep. How ya doing, Ray? Great, Steve. How's it going today? Good. Thanks for joining us. I'm really excited about this boot and this video. In my hands is the Pantera 90. Ray's got the Pantera 100. There's also a Pantera 120 which we'll do a separate video on.

This is a brand new boot from Dalbello and it solves a big problem that a lot of people have which is the Krypton boot, which Dalbello has become famous for as their high end three-piece boot, has a 98 width or a 98 last which is very narrow, and for a lot of people that just was not acceptable for their feet because their feet was just a little bit too wide for that but they really wanted all the features on the Krypton so finally you guys have come out with a boot for us guys with a little wider foot and it's actually variable so it's not just wider, it will actually go from 100 to 102. Right. Tell us how they do that. You're absolutely right, Steve. And what you hit on is for years, I've had people say, hey I'd love to have a Krypton boot but my foot is just too wide for a Krypton. Now, Krypton is known to be a three-piece, three-buckle boot but this boot has got a fourth buckle on it. Right and that fourth buckle, all that fourth buckle does is, and it does a lot, but all it does is it adjusts volume so what we do, we took this shell... Making it louder or softer? Yeah. Absolutely. Louder or softer. Or narrower or wider. Volume is the width of the fit. So what we did is we took the lower shell and we thinned the shell wall right down here and we thinned the shell wall right down here and typically, a classic overlap boot, and this is three-piece, with that tongue that sits on top of it. Typically an overlap boot if you just buckle tighter, it just crushes the foot. In this boot, the shell wall now goes from here...in like this. So, that's how we go from 102 down to 100 so now we can fit that wider foot, give them full three-piece performance and the three-piece with that three-piece shell you have the lower shell, you have the upper rear cuff that wraps around the leg and then you have the ribbed nylon tongue and the nylon tongue absorbs shock and it allows the whole thing to work together as one flexing package but with the low hinge point that you see right here, it allows the boot cuff to flex absolutely, perfectly, anatomically with your leg but, what we were talking about though before was that volume thing, so the VVF Buckle or the Variable Volume Fit, you fit it, you set it, you lock and you leave it and then the boot becomes a three-piece or...

You don't have to unbuckle this buckle in order to get in and out of the boot? No, the tongue works fully independent of that buckle. So, once it's set, you leave it. Other things that you wanted to hit on? Yeah, I was going to talk about the fact that most of the boots in the Krypton line don't have the ski/walk feature and the exterior variable flex adjustment. Right, well and one of the things that we wanted to do with this new series of boots is address the side country issue of the skier that wants to go out and ski on the hills but also go ski off the hills and with this boot you have a locking device or a ski/walk feature but you pull the lever on this, it releases this piece in the back and it allows the boot to now stand upright to be more comfortable for hiking and walking. When you throw the lever back down the boot flexes and it locks back into its skiing position. And now it's got a flex adjust, now this is a 90. What is the actual flex on this one? The 90 goes from, it starts out at 90 and it goes from 90 to about 100 or 105 flex. Okay, and that's the 100. So what's the range on that one? This one is around a 100 to 110-115 on the flex. So, besides the 90 being softer and the 100 being stiffer, any other features that the 100 has?

There's a couple other features that you get and one of those is the liner. The 90 boot comes with our True Fit heat-moldable liner which is that liner that you put on and over time it will shape and fit to your foot. This has got a True Fit Perfromance so this is the all day, hardcore skier. So, what is the performance liner? How is it different from this one? Denser? Yeah, the moldable materials in it are denser. So you have sport, you have performance and you have True Fit Comp. Okay. And then the other thing that you'll see that's different on this boot is, for the guy that's truly out doing a lot of hiking and walking and maybe even possibly riding a Cat or a Snow Cat or whatever else, you have the rubber clad hiking sole that piece of rubber that's put into here so you're not slipping on snowmobiles or slipping on rails or things like that. Do you also have a heel inclinator in that one? You do. I just noticed that. That's a great one to pick up here. This one does not have it. Right and we call that ramp angle adjustment and what it does is it allows me to perfectly balance you as a skier so if you need a boot with a taller.... It raises the heel of the boot. So, if you're a taller stance or if you need more forward lean you can adjust that into your stance. So, describe for us that perfect customer for this Pantera series. With the Pantera 90, being that it's a three-piece shell and it's adjustable, you can take that from any, kind of, mid-level intermediate skier right up to a low-expert.

This would be a great boot for that person who's an aggressive athlete, getting into skiing, may only be an intermediate now but expects to be an advanced level skier shortly, this boot can grow with them. Yeah, this could be the first boot you buy that as a beginner but you're a strong beginner. You want to be an athlete. Well, intermediate maybe. I don't know about beginner but... Well, nobody, I don't think anybody's a beginner skier. I don't think anyone strives to be a great beginner. They all want to be skiers. Now the 100. Who's that for? The 100 is full-ripping, all-mountain skier so this is, this can go from again that intermediate, this could be the same guy that bought that boot... Maybe just the bigger guy. Right, bigger, stronger guy looking for the better liner, better performance and a higher end shell with this boot. Okay. All right, I'm very excited about this boot. I've heard a lot of great press on it. I think it's got an award also? Yeah, this, I know that Powder Magazine gave this really high accolades and you're going to see this in a lot of the magazines. This new boot is going to be a killer for us. Yep. New technology from Dalbello. The Pantera 90 and 100. Again, there's also a 120, we'll do a separate video on that one. Ray, thanks for helping us out with this boot. You bet. And thanks for joining us on Ski Talk.

DON'T MISS OUT ON EXCLUSIVE DEALS

Get email updates on the latest Exclusive Offers and Events!

Start Earning Today!

You are a few clicks away from earning points on each purchase and most activities you make at Skis.com - Points add up to big savings including additional sale discounts, Birthday gifts and more!

Returning Customers

Sorry, this does not match our records. Check your spelling and try again.

Sorry, this does not match our records. Check your spelling and try again.